Today I decided to take all the bits of canvas that have been with me for years out of their various hiding spots and measure them for stretchers. I have been meaning to do this for ages.
I am not exactly careful with canvas fabric. Once it’s off the roll, it is fair game. I use it to wrap stuff when I am on the road or as a painting rag. Even when I don’t actually use it, all those bits of fabric are lying around the studio where they get covered in drips and all sorts of other studio DNA. I like my canvases to be messed up before I start working on them. It’s like life has already started the job for me.
Picking through this collection of odd ends, I get such a kick out of how different the textures are. One is herringbone, and it’s really tough. The largest piece is a super velvety linen. Its softness is deceptive. It’s so tightly woven I would hang my life on it if I ever had to escape from prison.
I found a couple of tiny sketches on that large linen piece. One is a sketch of Go, Go Pitch-Black Night. I remembered straight away where I drew it. It was in 2017. I was in Italy and had used that piece of linen to cover the table I was painting on. I must have sketched out the shapes on it. I dug out this short video from back then. A lot of sunshine and good joo-joo was baked into that linen during that summer.
My wife is helping me work out the sizes of stretchers I can fit into the fabric pieces so that we can order the wood. When I was in Berlin last year, I picked up a pack of tiny stretchers on a whim. I was surprised how much I liked working on them so I will try and get as many small pieces out of the odd ends of this fabric as I can.
Click image below to watch the video
